What Happens When Your Company Gets Acquired? Jonathan Moffie Explains It To A Teenager

AI is making it way easier for businesses to create TV commercials. Instead of needing a huge budget or a production team, you can now make a professional-looking ad in just a few seconds.

In the latest episode of Explain It to a Teenager, Luca Messina sits down with Jonathan Moffie, Head of Agentic at Magnite and founder of Streamer.AI, for a conversation about entrepreneurship, AI, and the future of advertising.

Luca Messina (LM): How would you describe Magnite to a teenager?

Jonathan Moffie (JM): We put the ads on Netflix, Disney+, and other streaming TV services.

LM: What does your role involve?

JM: Magnite acquired my company, Streamer.AI, last year. We generate TV ads using AI, and now we use Magnite's platform to launch those ads on streaming TV.

LM: Why did Magnite acquire Streamer.AI? What made the company special?

JM: We built Streamer.AI to democratize CTV advertising by making it incredibly easy to create a TV commercial. You simply enter your business name or website URL, and the platform generates an ad for you. Our goal has always been to bring millions of new advertisers into streaming TV. Magnite acquired us so it could bring that technology to agency partners, publishers, and advertisers at scale and help grow the streaming TV advertising ecosystem.

LM: How did you get into this line of work?

JM: I actually started as a video editor. From there, I moved into product and technology. When ChatGPT and Midjourney came out, we thought, "Why can't we use these technologies to create TV ads?" So we built Streamer.AI, launched the beta, and really started scaling the business in 2023.

LM: Is the platform accessible? Can anyone use it?

JM: Absolutely. It's as easy as using ChatGPT. You type in your business name, and in a matter of seconds, you can generate an ad.

LM: How do you think AI will change advertising?

JM: It's going to democratize advertising by bringing millions more advertisers into the market. We started with CTV, but we're expanding into additional formats, including home screen ads on smart TVs, display, in-app, audio, and more.

LM: What are home screen ads?

JM: They're ads that appear on the home screen of a smart TV, like a Samsung or LG television. When you turn on the TV, the ad is right there.

LM: What advice would you give a person who wants to work in marketing or advertising?

JM: This might be an unexpected answer, but I learned a lot from bartending. It taught me interpersonal skills, and those skills are incredibly valuable. As AI becomes more common, being able to communicate well, build relationships, and sell ideas becomes even more important. AI can't be a people person—as of now.